Getting Started·Lesson 2

Basic Movement

hjkl

In normal mode the four keys under your right hand move the cursor one step at a time.

hleft
jdown
kup
lright

Use your index finger for h and j, your middle finger for k, and your ring finger for l.

Now it's your turn

  1. Move the cursor onto the green target.
  2. Use h j k l, not the arrow keys.
  3. Each round counts your keystrokes. Match the ideal count to earn XP.
move · round 1/1000:00keys 0 · ideal –
x

# Why not the arrow keys?

Reaching for the arrows means taking your hand off the home row. hjkl keeps your fingers where the rest of Vim lives.

# Holding a key

Holding j to scroll down works, but it's slow. Later lessons show much faster ways to jump around.